Year of the Spark: February 17
by Sparky Army
Summary: John forgets something important.


_We, the Sparky Army, decree 2008 to be the Year of the Spark. We pledge to post a new sparky story or chapter of a sparky story every day from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008. Though the Powers That Be have removed Elizabeth Weir from the regular cast of Stargate Atlantis, we feel that she remains an integral part of the show, and that the relationship between her and John Sheppard is too obvious to be ignored. We hope that you and anyone might happen to read these works, agree. _

_And if that isn't official enough for you, we don't know what is. Seriously, guys, we're just trying to have some fun--and show TPTB that Sparky is the way to go. So sit back and enjoy the 366 stories coming your way!_

Authors Note (Hannah554): Just a cute little ficlet, a nice break from the angst I've been writing, enjoy!

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**An Important Date**

_By__ Hannah 554_

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He'd forgotten.

She knew they'd been busy in the last few weeks and he could not be blamed if it had slipped his mind but it still sent a stab of hurt through her that he hadn't remembered. Then again it was entirely possible that he didn't even remember the importance of the date, that he hadn't even registered its significance. The thought sent yet another stab of hurt through her, this one more painful than the last.

She then realised that this was neither the time nor the place so she refocused her attention on the debriefing. Major Lorne finished his account of their latest mission fairly quickly with the occasional input from the rest of his team. It had been routine and boring and none of them wanted to be in that room at the moment so they were all glad when it was over. Lorne sent her a sympathetic glance; did he know what date it was? No of course he didn't, it wasn't as though she'd broadcast it to the entire city. She decided his sympathy was simply for her having another one of these debriefings to do when she really couldn't be bothered with it all today.

She returned to her office in time to see John heading in the same direction. He walked in and slumped himself down in the chair looking bored out of his mind. "Slow day," he stated with a sigh.

"What, you want a Wraith attack or something?" she asked with a little more bitterness in her tone than she had intended and he looked at her confused for a moment before seemingly shaking it off.

"Well, I did volunteer to fly Teyla to the mainland this afternoon so I suppose that'll break up the day," John told her and Elizabeth tried not to look disappointed, he really had forgotten.

"How long will you be gone?" she asked him.

"A few hours at the most," he told her and she nodded her head.

"Well, enjoy that," she said with a small smile as she picked up a few files and headed for the door. "I have to go, got another debriefing to do," she excused herself and hurried away. She could feel his curious eyes on her back and only glanced behind her once. He looked confused again, not able to understand her strange behaviour and it only hurt more, though she knew it shouldn't.

The second debrief of the day was as boring and simple as the first, in fact she'd tuned a lot of it out, thankfully the team didn't take offence, in fact she was fairly sure they were tuning a lot of it out to. It was a tedious task, especially when the missions all went according to plan but she would much rather be doing those than the interesting ones. The interesting ones meant something had gone wrong and she could never enjoy those either. They usually ended with her returning to her office to write a letter to someone's family.

After the debrief she managed to make it through several reports and a brief communication with earth. John had returned from the mainland an hour ago and had stopped by to make sure she'd had lunch. She'd lied; he'd known anyway and left the office, returning several minutes later with sandwiches. He'd eaten with her, making small talk which Elizabeth had barely participated in and he'd been sending her confused looks the whole time before he left.

She'd gotten some more paperwork done after that but hadn't gotten anywhere near as much done as she should. Major Lorne stopped by her office, seeming far more cheerful than he had that morning when they were stuck in the debrief.

"You got that report done, Major?" she asked him knowing full well he hadn't.

"Yes ma'am," he lied in amusement "Just gotta spell check it."

Elizabeth smiled slightly and looked down at her laptop, deciding enough was enough and her brain obviously didn't want to co-operate today. She closed the laptop and Lorne looked at her curiously for a moment.

"Something on your mind ma'am?" he asked.

"Nothing too important," she told him and he nodded his head. "Just waiting on Barrett's team returning."

"Why don't you go, I can wait for them, Barrett owes me money anyway," he told her and she smiled again before deciding to accept his offer. She left the office heading immediately to her own quarters. She walked over to the window, gazing out at the view of the city and wondering why she held such importance to the date when obviously it wasn't that big a deal.

It was then that an arm came around the side of her, glass of wine in the hand "Happy Anniversary," a voice whispered in her ear and she took the glass of wine as she turned around.

"You did remember," she stated.

"Of course I did, one year ago today we finally got together, one of the best days of my life," he told her and she smiled as she lifted her glass. He lifted his own with a "To us," clinked his glass against hers before taking a small sip. He put his glass down on the small table next to them and put both his arms around her waist and she put her glass next to his.

"I thought you'd forgotten," she admitted as she put her arms around his neck and he smiled slightly.

"Harder to surprise you when you know I'm up to something," he replied and dropped a quick kiss on her lips. "I've got the ever so wonderful kitchen staff cooking us dinner, we'll be eating that on our balcony and I also picked this up for you on the main land," he told her handing her a small box. She opened it revealing the green gemstone hanging from a delicate silver chain. "I figured it'd go with your eyes."

That made Elizabeth smile and she wrapped her arms around his neck again, hugging him tightly "You didn't need to get me anything, I haven't got anything for you" she told him and he shrugged.

"I know I didn't have to and I don't need anything," he said and she smiled again, grabbing his face between her hands and pulling him down to her, crashing her lips against his in a searing kiss. "See, now that was present enough for me," he told her when they pulled apart.

He took the small box from and carefully removed the necklace, placing it around her neck and putting it together behind her neck. He pulled away studying it "Yeah, definitely goes with your eyes."

"I love you," she said quietly, they were words that they didn't toss around easily, didn't say very often but it made it all the more special, all the more meaningful when they did say them and they couldn't have been more true.

"I love you too," he replied and kissed her again.


End file.
